Bruton Restaurant Guide

This “very classy hotel, restaurant and bakery” in a snazzily converted 18th-century congregational chapel anticipated Bruton’s gastro boom by several years when it opened back in 2008, and remains “an experience not to be missed” under relatively new ownership – a menu mixing wood-fired pizza with modern British and European small plates “always comes up with the goods”, while the venue takes full advantage of its double-height ceilings and south-facing terrace for al-fresco dining.

“Every flavour is unique with dishes that are exciting, different and a real taste experience, but not in a whacky, OTT way – just letting the ingredients speak for themselves” – at Merlin Labron-Johnson’s acclaimed destination; which “has moved out of Bruton (about ten minutes down the road to the middle of the countryside)” – and now occupies a 17th-century coaching inn, offering four minimal-chic rooms named after rivers in Somerset. One first-time visitor was wowed by “a miracle of flavours from the simplest ingredients” (“it’s the vegetables and foraged herbs that stand out”), all abetted by “inspirational and creative” presentation. “One of those meals where you want to lick the saucy remains off every emptied dish, and the service is so friendly that you actually can!”. The eleven-course tasting menu is £150 per person (with lunch nine courses for £95 per person). Top Menu Tips – “fallow deer is especially good as is the fried parsnip (and I don’t like parsnips!)”. “‘Old favourite’ dishes such as a game pithivier and the squid, pigs head and black truffle are totally amazing. Beetroot taco with salted egg yoke – the flavours are just incredible. Another stand out is the meadowsweet icecream, so unusual and the most fabulous texture”.

“A wonderful, exclusive, if rather pricey place for a meal” – this glam hideaway is the centrepiece dining-wise of billionaire Koos Bekker and wife Karen’s luxurious estate, which they launched in 2019. With its oak panelled dining room and “attention-grabbing, glass-house courtyard add-on” it’s an “extremely pleasant environment” (“tables are well spread out within the more formal area within the original hotel building and the large glass walled and roofed extension is slightly more informal”). “Staff are so welcoming and motivated” providing service that’s “proficient and leisurely” and the food is simple but very well executed using lots of ingredients either sourced from the estate or nearby farms (including venison). Round off your meal with “a magical after-lunch stroll through the grounds… fabulous!”

2024 Review: This “newly refurbished family-owned pub with rooms” – originally a mid-Victorian cider house – in a “lovely village” near Sherborne, makes for a “perfect stop-over en route to Devon or Cornwall”, with “agreeable service” and “reliable food including interesting fish dishes”. Co-owner Doune Mackenzie-Francis has a foodie background as a former marketing manager for Leith’s School of Food & WIne.

Set in “delectable surroundings” on the Longleat estate – this “traditional pub with rather better food” (from an “interesting menu”) is “an altogether enjoyable and relaxing experience”. It even has a ‘treatment cabin’. Dating from 1736, it’s now part of the Beckford Group and offers 16 bedrooms along with “quality service”.

“Always a treat to eat” at Adam & Martine Fellows’ “friendly, very enjoyable fish-oriented restaurant” – an established feature of the area for over 20 years which moved to this smartly decorated site in 2022, where they also run a cookery school. Fans “love being able to see what’s happening in the open plan kitchen”, say the food “melts in the mouth” and “a definite plus is that every course comes with its own vegetables… it’s a pet hate when they are extra!”

“A remarkable place, not even in the centre of a country town” – a converted pub-with-rooms where Australian husband-and-wife team Paul & Tracey Merrony run the show, “she front of house, him in the kitchen”. “A wide range of French-style classic dishes are chalked up on the board” and you’ll find “different variations on these dishes when you visit again”. The “top quality ingredients, deliciously cooked” offer “extraordinary value for money at £28.50 for three substantial courses. What’s not to like…” – indeed a couple of best meals of the year are reported here.

2024 Review: “Great modern European food using locally sourced ingredients at very reasonable prices” again wins praise for this local fixture. Chef-patron Sasha Matkevich grew up in south Russia but has lived in England for 30 years.

“Just heaven”. “You can’t get more idyllic than a meal here sat in the most beautiful walled kitchen garden” of Darren Brown’s Wiltshire destination (est. 2016) – “out of the way (but handy for the A303)” – “it is so relaxing, and such a treat and the surroundings are so beautiful with their mixture of flowers and vegetables and herbs”. “On the Cote d’Azur it would work fine most of the year. In Wiltshire it is often cold and wet at which time you eat indoors in Spartan conditions (at which times ambience 2/5 at best)”. When it comes to the cooking (much of it over an open fire), they “really make an attempt to be green with lots of own-grown stuff, retired dairy cows for meat etc. you can even pick a bunch of flowers to take home!”. But what is plain “magical” to some, is more nuanced to sceptics, who say: “problem is, the food’s not that good, with relatively little choice in practice and combinations that are seasonal but don’t always work”. Likewise service can be “enthusiastic but not always knowledgeable”. Still, mostly the vibes here are positive. Top Menu Tip – “They bring you a non-alcoholic fizzy wine to kick things off and it’s the best thing – not sweet but deliciously refreshing. Some good bread and a dip to kick things off, then the main event, you either pick meat or veggie; then all the sides, with veg straight from the garden all so fresh and beautifully accompanied with herbs and butters”.

“An excellent addition to the Bruton food scene” – this unpretentious farm-to-table restaurant from former River Cottage alum’ Sam Lomas has banished the ghost of former incumbent Osip, now located out of town, taking over the dining room of this attractive Georgian hotel in summer 2024 (the huge stone fireplace and earthy décor nod to its past as an ironmonger’s). The food is “based on small plates (plus snacks, sharing dishes and proper puds) using carefully sourced ingredients”, and it’s all “absolutely delicious and extremely good value for money” too.

This latest new happening at Swiss art dealership Hauser + Wirth’s flagship property is billed as a farmstead in Italian style with aims of ‘legendary Italian bonhomie through dishes rooted in traditions, care and imagination’. When it comes to the whole set-up though, our early reports include ups-and-downs: from very good all-round experiences, to that of a “very ordinary restaurant with sporadic service”. Even the latter, though, say “all would be fine if the prices were set appropriately”.

In this increasingly arty part of Somerset, gallery owner Max Wigram’s “destination pub” – also the first venture outside the capital for Margot Henderson of London’s Rochelle Canteen fame, with Nye Smith overseeing the retro cooking on a day-to-day basis. While the village venture attracted quite some attention on opening in 2023 (“takes your nightmare of school food and elevates it to dreamlike status”, breathed William Sitwell), feedback this year was somewhat muted (ranging from reports of “very good” fish to more “varied food standards”).

From “recommended for brunch with quality ingredients” to “friendly staff and very good atmosphere, but the Somerset burger was really not good!” – This new venue backed by the team from the nearby The Newt country estate hotel inspired somewhat mixed food (too limited for a rating) reviews in our annual diners’ poll, but everyone liked the general scene. They’ve spent a packet on the place, gorgeously scrubbing up the brick-walled, 1912 ‘Milk Factory’ next to Castle Cary station to create a ‘community hub’. On a November 2024 visit, The Sunday Times’s Charlotte Ivers found it akin to “the countryside designed by someone who has never left Notting Hill”.

2024 Review: This Victorian boozer on the Duke of Somerset’s estate reopened in 2021 (with rooms) after a posh refit by Andrew Kelly and James Thurstan Waterworth (the ex-European design director at Soho House). Despite the rather rapid exit of initial chef Nye Smith – to Rochelle Canteen boss Margot Henderson’s new venture, ‘The Three Horseshoes’, in Batcombe – its local/seasonal menu gained solid marks this year.

“The stunning building” – a school built in 1854 that looks like a church – underpins the appeal of this bar-restaurant deep in the West Country (part of the swish rural group incorporating The Woodspeen). Reports lacked the inconsistency of last year’s feedback, with stronger all-round praise for its high quality, if rather ambitiously priced, fare.

The 17th-century coaching inn exterior belies Ayesha Kalai’s decidedly different outfit (but then again it does exotically draw its name from the tarot deck, in a nod to its mystical Glastonbury setting). On the menu, “interesting Middle Eastern food” served in small-plates style (including “wonderful [laver]bread” falafel or hogget and apricot merguez). Playfulness is the order of the day at this outfit, overseen by ‘kitchen mumma’ (as she calls herself on the website) Ayesha and team.

A menu of Italian small plates confounds expectations at this traditional Grade II listed 16th-century pub opposite the Abbey, where West Country ingredients are converted into a very wide choice of pizzette and pasta (all made in-house). You are advised to order two to three dishes each. Top Tip – Menu del Giorno lunch for two at £16 per person, served for tables up to 6, available Tuesday to Friday lunchtimes, 12pm to 2pm, and on Happy Wednesdays (4th Wednesday night of the month).